Chapter 1 – Beginnings 

Sweat formed on the brow of a figure dressed in all black, as if posing as a ninja of days past. All but the black clad figure’s eyes were covered up, preventing all from finding out his true identity. Cicadas chirped madly amongst the acres of trees that made up the forest the figure was currently traveling through. The blistering heat and thick humid air suffocated him in his heavy clothing. However, he knew that if he wasn’t wearing his full set of gear, he was a goner. Hell, even the thick jacket he was wearing wouldn’t save him from being the meal of the predator currently stalking him.

Lithe footsteps made almost inaudible noises as they made their way to their target. Another black clad figure was currently on the prowl just as a nimble panther would search for its prey. A look to her right confirmed that her target was hiding in the bushes a few maters away. A smile made its way to her masked face as she realized how easy it would be to sneak up on her objective.

A silver blade reflected the few sun shafts that peeked out through the thick cloud cover above her. She wished it wasn’t so stuffy out in plain air, but she knew it gave her an advantage. If she was suffering under the sweltering weather and overbearing clothing, her enemy was too. Shaking away the complaints, she made her way to a tree right above the bushes so she could pounce and claim the prize she so desperately seeked.

With a swift flick of her wrist she sent the blade whistling through the air, making a dull slicing noise as it entered the thick foliage. Her first instinct was to rush in, grab the objective, and make a break for the rendezvous point, but logic swiftly kicked in. This was almost too easy. There was no way someone who she deemed as skilled as her would be taken out so easily. Her thoughts proved correct when she felt a warm liquid trickling down her arm slowly.

“Ah…” she groaned in pain a few seconds after she finally realized what had happened. Calculating the trajectory of the blade that grazed her, she looked behind her to see a ninja like figure glaring at her through his mask. She couldn’t make out his face, but she knew the bastard was smirking victoriously because he had her where he wanted her.

That’s when it was her turn to smirk back. The same pain was inflicted on the man just moments after he felt like he had her right where he wanted. The enemy turned towards the direction the weapon came from and realized her back up had arrived. She sighed in relief, but the moment didn’t last long since she knew this was far from over.

“You’re not getting me without a fight.” the man taunted. He pulled out what looked like a scroll and brandished it in a mocking gesture as if saying ‘come and get it.’ The man jumped down from the tree only to run back into the cover of the shrubbery. She had no time for games and she wanted nothing more than to be done with her task. Apart from needing rest, food, water, and first aid, she also knew her superiors would have her head if she didn’t get back within the next hour.

Popping out at just the right time, her partner caught the fleeing target with a single hand. “That was hardly a fight,” the woman’s partner taunted back as he drew a knife to the fleeing man’s neck. “Hand over the scroll and I’ll think about letting you live.”

“Aish… here I was thinking I’d get away with this one and a win for my team. Looks like you caught me,” the man holding the important documents sighed out. The woman’s partner let her guard down, fully expecting surrender. Another smirk graced the enemy’s features as he drew a knife of his own and quickly pinned down his aggressor.

“!”

“Ain’t so fast now ain’t ya?” Having been trained for years for things like this, the woman’s partner tried his hardest to free himself from the grasp of his target. However, he wasn’t a match for the strength his adversary possessed. Being a few inches shorter and a quite a few pounds lighter, it was an unfair match from the beginning. His limber body and quick reflexes weren’t going to do him any good against someone considerably larger.

Not knowing what happened, both men were caught by surprise when the woman made her way back into the picture. After the dust settled she managed to slice a few more cuts in her opponent’s arms, forcing him to let go of the smaller man. “Ain’t so strong now ain’t ya?” she mocked in a voice as close to his as she could muster.

“,” the larger man yelled out in pain as he tried to stop the bleeding in his arms. “You , I’ll kill you.”

“Really now?” she coldly asked back. She was getting tired of the games. This guy gave her a pretty rough time because she was playing with her targets. She knew, and she knew that her enemies knew, that she could take them all down in less than two minutes if she wanted to. Commander Go would have her head if she didn’t end her mission now. “Look, let’s end this. I’m here for that piece of paper you have in your hands.”

“Yeah? You expect me to give it to you?

“No, I don’t expect you to hand it over to me willingly. But yes, I do expect it from you.” Breaking the rules of engagement she was taught, she pulled down her mask to her chin. Pulling out a simple pony tail from the black leather, she ran a hand over her brow to wipe the accumulated moisture and finally relieve herself of the intense heat she felt.

“P-Pa-Panther… You’re the Panther aren’t you?” the burly man stuttered. The taunting ceased the second her mask came off. He knew exactly who the emotionless face belonged to that was staring back at him.

Everyone who was in the business knew who ‘The Panther’ was. Her father was a scientist that was not only known in their country, but abroad as well. He was the spearhead of the nuclear project their country was finally managing to get off of its feet. Rumors had it that ‘The Panther’ got some kind of experiments performed on her to make her powerful enough to strike fear into the most skilled men’s hearts on sight. Everyone knew they were all bull of course, but it didn’t stop them from talking about it.

Her partner took the opportunity and quickly pinned the man down just as he had been moments earlier. “Jae Myung ah…” she called out in her robotic voice. “Grab the scroll and let’s go.” The younger male nodded and took the yellowing roll of paper in the man’s jacket. Without even looking back at the man, they turned their backs to him, making a nonchalant exit.

The Panther knew it wasn’t the end of the attack on her. Even with the fear in the man’s heart, she knew he couldn’t resist the temptation of attacking her and beating the Ace everyone revered. With a swift motion, she twirled around agilely to strike the man in the neck as he silently charged at them. Instantly, the light in his eyes was put out and he found himself tumbling to the ground.

“Noonim… you’re something else,” the young man named Jae Myung managed to say in awe. The woman turned over to him to give him a scolding glance. In an instant, Jae Myung straightened up and began to walk forward. “Sorry, ma’am! I will refrain from calling you noonim, forgive my impudence.”

“Call me that again and I’ll kill you myself,” she coldly responded.

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Barely making the time limit to be back by 4pm, The Panther and her team walked victoriously across the finish line, being the first and only squad to complete the task the trainees were given. “Well, well, well, look who we have here,” a man with a wide array of medals and insignias on his uniform growled. “If it isn’t my cute little Panther and her little pack of kittens.”

The greasy man gave the woman a look from head to toe, ersely checking out everything her toned body had to offer through the form fitting black clothes. Her squad members shifted uncomfortably in their spots as they watched their disgusting excuse for a superior blatantly check out their team leader without any shame. “Respect my team, please, Commander Go,” she sternly requested. As much as she despised him, she couldn’t go against him or she risked death.

“Team Leader Seo, you have no right to demand anything from your superior!” Commander Go lashed out. “Anyways, you worms took too long to finish this easy task so let’s get this over with.”

“Team Leader…” Jae Myung began to protest. The woman slapped a hand over his mouth, effectively stopping him from making any further messes with the unsavory man they had for a superior. Instead they all turned their eyes to the scroll being handed over to the repulsive uniformed monkey to see the results of the test.

He read the contents of the document as he scowled; subtly hating the fact that one of his famed unpassable tests had been passed. “You still fail kitty cat!” he barked out. “You want to tell me with this bull is?”

The Panther turned her attention to the screens that showed the recordings of the events that occurred within the forest in the two hours her and her team had been in there. “What are you talking about?” she asked in her nonchalant tone. That was one of the things that made Commander Go furious about her. She was always so passive and so distant that it made him sick to his stomach. She was no different from a robot that had been made to only carry out orders and not feel emotions. The fact that she had no feelings for him to hurt made him feel as if he was being insulted.

“This!” he yelled. The team turned to see play by plays of every enemy they took out. The group of eight didn’t see what the problem was as they saw themselves skillfully taking out the entire enemy team without losing a single person. If anything, they all thought they had executed every move with 99% effectiveness.

“I don’t see anything, sir,” The Panther responded quietly.

“You ing look! Do you see what you idiots did?! You took the scroll, yeah whoop-de-doo!” The entire team stood there staring at each other to try to figure out what the caveman in front of them was speaking about. “Are you fools retarded?! You left your enemies all alive!”

“I wasn’t told I had to kill them to pass the test.”

“Team Leader Seo, you’re demoted for insubordination, failing to follow a superiors order’s and for failing to correctly carry out a mission,” Commander Go informed her with a triumphant smirk on his face.

“What?!” Jae Myung and the rest of the team cried out. “Sir! We carried out the mission as stealthily and on point as possible. We didn’t need to kill those guys out there! Those guys are our comrades and our brothers in arms. We can’t possibly kill them.”

“You going soft on me boy?”

The Panther began to feel something for once in her life. She didn’t usually feel wronged but the situation was getting the best of her. If she didn’t go cool off, she knew things would get ugly. “I agree with my subordinate, Commander. I can’t possibly end the lives of sons and daughters of our country. We are from different camps, but at the end of the day, they’re fighting to defend our country just like me.”

“Get out…” Commander Go growled. “If you say one more word, I’ll h